the-beast wrote:1. I noticed that the demo has a ‘activation key’ feature. Does this mean that I need to be connected to the Internet to install/activate the game?

No. You need some way to get the installer of the demo onto your PC, and you need the authkey, which you can type in manually.

the-beast wrote:2. The ‘autopatcher’. Is there anyway of disabling this as its annoying having is popping up all the time and since I am not connected to the Internet its kind of useless.

Yes. Just launch multiwinia.exe instead of autopatch.exe, that bypasses the autopatcher.

the-beast wrote:3. Since I don’t have Internet access I would need to download a manually patch but I can not see these available for download. Are there any and where are they?

The autopatcher downloads them, so they're bound to be available somewhere; but probably not in a form suited for easy manual installation. The easiest way to update your system may be to download and transfer the current (and hopefully updated) demo after big updates, or to keep a separate installation on a PC with internet and to copy that over. MW doesn't do any registry magic, so game installations copy without problem.

the-beast wrote:4. Can Multiwinia in bought in bundle with Darwinia rather then separately?

There was the opportunity to do so twice over steam, and there is the limited edition box set.

the-beast wrote:5. I intent to play Multwinia in Skirmish and as a 2 player LAN game. Can 1 key be used for 2 installs on the same LAN (in the same building) or will I need to purchase two keys?

One key cannot be used on two installations playing in the same game, but the demo version can join any game hosted by a full version on the LAN. You just have to click the invisible "Ready" button.

1. You don't need the internet to install the game, but you do need it to register your game key on the metaserver in order to unlock the full version. After the game has been authenticated once though, you can play offline freely.

2. You can bypass the autopatcher by running the multiwinia.exe executable in the game's install directory.

3. As far as I am aware, there isn't a way to download the patches seperately. But what you could do is keep a copy of Multiwinia on a USB drive and when you get an opportunity to check for updates, simply run the updater from there. Then you can just copy your patched version over to the system you play it on.

4. There's 2 ways you can get Darwinia and Multiwinia together: a) Through Steam. This method is probably not preferred for you, considering your lack of home Internet access. The other way, which might work out a little more costly, is to order a special edition tin from the Introversion store.

And finally
5. I'm afraid I'll have to pass on this one, I've not experimented with LANing the game. Although I believe I read somewhere that it is possible to play with one key, don't take that as gospel. I'm sure someone else will pop in with a definite answer.

the-beast wrote:1. I noticed that the demo has a ‘activation key’ feature. Does this mean that I need to be connected to the Internet to install/activate the game?

No. You need some way to get the installer of the demo onto your PC, and you need the authkey, which you can type in manually.

LLamaBoy wrote:1. You don't need the internet to install the game, but you do need it to register your game key on the metaserver in order to unlock the full version. After the game has been authenticated once though, you can play offline freely.

Urm.. seams you are contradicting each other here.

Is the authkey as you called it tied to a particular PC or can I install and activate on my work PC then take a copy of the 'activation stuff' (what ever it may be) and apply it to my home computer to unlock the full game.

One key cannot be used on two installations playing in the same game, but the demo version can join any game hosted by a full version on the LAN. You just have to click the invisible "Ready" button.

Does this mean that the demo can join game modes that its normally locked out of so long as the host is a fully activated version?

Its a pity that its not easier to install/patch this game in a offline/LAN environment but I suppose its aimed at an Internet audience.

Is the authkey as you called it tied to a particular PC or can I install and activate on my work PC then take a copy of the 'activation stuff' (what ever it may be) and apply it to my home computer to unlock the full game.

What they're saying is that while the installer itself doesn't need internet access to be run, of course you do need some way of downloading the installer in the first place. Furthermore, the authkey is not tied to a PC, but it's tied to an installation. If you remove the game from one PC and install it with the same key on another it will still work. Running two installations with the same key at the same time will not work properly, as stated by bert also.

the-beast wrote:Does this mean that the demo can join game modes that its normally locked out of so long as the host is a fully activated version?

Yes, but only on LAN.

Jelco

"The ships hung in the sky much the same way that bricks don't."
- Douglas Adams

Yes. I do think I am correct, though. While I haven't really tested it (and can't; I'd have to do a clean of Windows install on my PC to get rid of all possible activation traces), I can see no such activation traces and wouldn't know where they could be kept.

the-beast wrote:Is the authkey as you called it tied to a particular PC or can I install and activate on my work PC then take a copy of the 'activation stuff' (what ever it may be) and apply it to my home computer to unlock the full game.

It's independent of the PC.

Its a pity that its not easier to install/patch this game in a offline/LAN environment but I suppose its aimed at an Internet audience.

It is, after all, a multiplayer game. Note that you don't even need patches to play offline; after the promised map support gets pushed out, there isn't much to change that would benefit an offline player. Most of the bugs that are left (sync errors) and missing features (spectators) don't even affect you.

Jelco: by default, authkeys aren't linked to the installation, but to the user I know that for the average user, that's no no difference, but still.

jelco wrote:What they're saying is that while the installer itself doesn't need internet access to be run, of course you do need some way of downloading the installer in the first place. Furthermore, the authkey is not tied to a PC, but it's tied to an installation. If you remove the game from one PC and install it with the same key on another it will still work. Running two installations with the same key at the same time will not work properly, as stated by bert also.

Ah, I see.

Its good to know at the Key is tied to a user and not a PC.

Think I'll get the limited edition tin simply because its the same price as getting multiwinia and darwinia boxed.

LLamaBoy wrote:1. You don't need the internet to install the game, but you do need it to register your game key on the metaserver in order to unlock the full version. After the game has been authenticated once though, you can play offline freely.

I copied my multiwinia from home to a usb drive, dumped it into a folder on one of the machines at work for breaks. The admin has the firewall blocking the game.

From what you just said, is even if I enter my auth key, since it can't talk to the meta server (not even once) at work. It will never goto full version mode?

bert_the_turtle wrote:However, I say he's wrong, and the game will be playable anyway (albeit with Authentication Status: Unknown).

Your correct burt, I bought Multiwinia yesterday, installed it at home and inputted the serial. The game unlocks and is fully playable with an authentication status of unknown.

As an offline game I think its great that you can do this, but introversion have missed a trick I think in not advertising it as the demo gives the impression its online only (I know the game is online orientated but still... ).

Thanks for the help everyone, I’m glad I got this game.

I know I can stick the game on to usb drive and run the autopatcher but would introversion be willing to update the demo every time a patch is released so that myself and anyone else can just redownload the demo, reinstall and it will pick up our serials and unlock? For me that would be a lot easier.

On a slightly different topic (but not by much), I got Darwinia in my purchase. The patch fails to find the Darwinia installation and start menu directories automatically. Not that big a problem but it would have been a better user experience if it had. Would you be able to update the Downloadable version of Darwinia to be the latest straight off, thus solving this small but irritating issue? I imagine that would stop people complaining about bugs that were patched long ago.